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All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Kansa at Sora Kansas Creek, Southwest of Fort Osage (1825)

In August 1825 the Kansa agreed to a marked road to New Mexico, forever free to US and Mexican travelers, for $800.

Signed
August 16, 1825
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept

What happened

This treaty came from the same law as the Osage road treaty of the week before. An act of Congress approved on 3 March 1825 authorized the President to have a road marked from the western frontier of Missouri to the confines of New Mexico, and required the commissioners to get the tribes' consent by treaty. The commissioners were Benjamin Reeves, George Sibley and Thomas Mather.

On 16 August 1825, on Sora Kansas Creek, two hundred and thirty-eight miles southwest of Fort Osage, they met the chiefs and head men of the Kansas tribe. The Kansa agreed that the commissioners could survey and mark a road through any territory the tribe owned or claimed, and that the road would be forever free for citizens of the United States and of the Mexican Republic to pass and repass without hindrance or molestation. They also promised to give friendly aid to travellers they met, and accepted that the road extended a reasonable distance on either side for food and camping.

In return the United States, through the commissioners, promised five hundred dollars in money or merchandise at the Kansa's option. The chiefs also acknowledged merchandise worth three hundred dollars already received. The text says those two sums are "full and complete compensation" for all privileges granted.

The treaty was proclaimed on 3 May 1826. The text gives no road width and no acreage.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Pay the Kansa $500 in money or merchandise for the road privileges. (Art. 5)

    the sum of five hundred dollars treaties.okstate.edu

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. to cause a road to be marked out from the Western frontier of Missouri to the confines of New MexicoTreaty with the Kansa, 1825 (Sora Kansas Creek), Tribal Treaties Database
  2. shall, when marked, be forever free for the use of the citizens of the United States and of the Mexican RepublicTreaty with the Kansa, 1825 (Sora Kansas Creek), Tribal Treaties Database
  3. the sum of five hundred dollarsTreaty with the Kansa, 1825 (Sora Kansas Creek), Tribal Treaties Database
  4. full and complete compensation for every privilege herein granted by said ChiefsTreaty with the Kansa, 1825 (Sora Kansas Creek), Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The text sets no width for the road and gives no acreage. The text does not record the Kansa view of the 'forever free' clause.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

  1. 1825

    This treaty

    Signed

    In August 1825 the Kansa agreed to a marked road to New Mexico, forever free to US and Mexican travelers, for $800.

  2. 1825

    Promise broken

    Kaw (Kanza): annuities delayed, sale and removal from Kansas (1873), and Kaw Lake

    The Kaw ceded Missouri and Kansas land by treaty, kept a shrinking reserve, and were removed from Kansas to Indian Territory in 1873.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-kansa-1825-0248reference work
    Aug. 16, 1825. | 7 Stat., 270. / scan: 248 TREATY WITH THE KANSA, 1825.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.